Woman helps elderly couple in flipped over pickup

Despite being nervous at what she might find, Evelyn Lilly jumped into action after witnessing an accident on the Trans-Canada Highway near Robinsons on Wednesday when a pickup truck flipped over in a ditch.

The 67-year-old Port aux Basques woman was headed toward Stephenville when her sister, who was with her, noticed the driver of a pickup truck ahead of them had lost control about a kilometre east of Midway Motel.

She said the highway was slushy at the time and it took only seconds for the small pickup to cross the road and end up in the ditch. She said the driver, luckily, wasn’t going fast at the time.

Lilly stopped her vehicle and, without a coat and wearing her sneakers, went across the road. She was concerned as she made her way down toward the pickup, shouting out, but not getting an answer.

Finally, she heard the woman on the passenger side ask her to open the door, which she managed to do, and got the woman’s legs straightened out and then out of the pickup. The man managed to crawl out on his own after her.

By this time a Gateway Shuttle Bus stopped and several men came to help. Having an appointment in Stephenville, when Lilly went on her way after she was assured the elderly couple in the pickup — who she learned were from Heatherton — were OK.

Corp. John Butler of the Stephenville RCMP confirmed there had been a 911 call to an accident at that location at 9:20 a.m., but police were informed that an ambulance was not needed, so the one being dispatched was cancelled.

Lilly said she noticed on her way back to Port aux Basques after her appointment, which was in the early afternoon, that the pickup truck had been removed.